Milos Raonic – Canada Fan Blog an (unofficial) blog about tennis and Canadian player Milos Raonic

French Open Draw

MILOS UPDATE: Raonic is up third on Court 17 against Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo on Monday. Since this is not a TV show court, there will be no way to watch the match live, streamed or otherwise.

The draw for Roland Garros has been released and we know who Milos Raonic will be facing in the first round: Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (ESP). He is currently ranked No. 73 in the world and has only played in clay court tournaments all year. Raonic has never faced Ramirez Hidalgo, whose latest result was a first round loss a couple of weeks ago in Bordeaux, France.

Milos could either meet Jesse Levine (USA) or Benjamin Becker (GER) in the second round. The first seed Milos could face should he get through the early rounds is Juan Monaco (13). Raonic is in Rafael Nadal's quarter of the draw, who is seeded No.2. They could meet in the fourth round, but a lot would have to go right for that to happen. Andy Murray is also in the same half as Nadal and Raonic.

Frank Dancevic and Vasek Pospisil are both in the main draw and will face Martin Klizan (SVK) and Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) respectively. They are in the opposite half of the draw with Djokovic and Federer.

On the Women's side, Stephanie Dubois will face Shahar Peer (ISR) in the first round, and Aleksandra Wozniak is still waiting for her opponent to be decided in qualifying. Heidi El Tabakh has also qualified for the main draw, making it a total of 6 Canadians in the hunt for the major singles title.

In Canada, TSN (and TSN2) will have complete coverage of the French Open starting on Sunday at 5:00 AM EST. You can find the full TV Schedule here. Since TSN will (most likely) be presenting the ESPN feed, it's hard to say if we'll get to see Raonic at all in the early rounds. Though it is possible TSN.ca could provide a live stream for Raonic's match and other matches involving Canadians.

-multi

EDIT: Vasek Pospisil takes to the court in the morning versus Roger-Vasselin at approx 6:30 EST.  It is a televised court (court 2) but I'm not sure if TSN will carry many (or any?) of the extra streams online at TSN.ca as ESPN does (if not, google "tennis live streaming").  The unfortunate part is that we're stuck with those brutal American commentators again (I just watched an ESPN "preview" on TSN's website where the guy pronounced Djokovic's name wrong over and over again, but then again, he's only #1 in the world - I'd hate to hear them try to pronounce Milos' name!). --wacb

Tough Road for Raonic In Rome

The draw for the Rome masters is out and Milos hasn't been given any breaks. His first round opponent is Florian Mayer (GER), whom he has never faced and is currently ranked one spot lower than Raonic at No.24. But the headline here is that Milos could potentially face Rafael Nadal in the second round if he is able to defeat Mayer. It was No.3 Federer last week in Madrid, and now we could see him up against No.2 Nadal this week in Rome.

Raonic hasn't played Nadal since Tokyo last year. Their other previous meeting was also on the hardcourt in Tokyo in 2010. Nadal won boths of those matches. Given Milos' recent clay court success, I cannot think of a better test for him than Rafa. I know I'm not the only one hoping that this match gets to happen, and all Raonic has to get past Mayer in the first round.

-multi

Milos in Monte Carlo

The Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters event is about to get underway and we will finally see Milos Roanic back in action. The draw is out and Raonic will face Albert Montanes (ESP) in the first round.

The two have yet to meet on the tour, and Montanes hasn't played much since the South American clay court swing where he failed to advance past the first round in his last three tournaments. His best result so far this year was when he reached the quarters in Chile and lost to Juan Monaca in three sets.

Should Milos get through the first round, he will have Janko Tipsarevic waiting for him. Tipsarevic is seeded No.7 and has a first round bye. As you recall, Raonic won his first title of the the year by defeating the Serbian in the finals of Chennai in three tight sets. The clay courts in Monte Carlo are a far cry from the big-serve-friendly hard courts. We'll have to wait and see if Raonic can get through Montanes first.

It looks like Sportsnet ONE will have coverage of the tournament beginning on Monday, April 16, at 4 PM EST. Not sure if they will be able to show Milos' first round match live.

UPDATE: Milos Raonic vs Albert Montanes will be the last match on Court Central after Benneteau vs Granollers today (Monday). They are currently on court and it looks like they're going to a third set. No word if the Raonic match will be live on TV, so check your favourite online streaming service!

-multi

Raonic Withdraws from Sony Ericsson Open

Milos Raonic turned his ankle in practice before his doubles match yesterday. He tried to play on it, but was forced to retire early in the match. This is bad news, obviously. We hoped he would be able to play today, but unfortunately that isn't the case. Andy Murray will advance in a walkover.

.@milosraonic has withdrawn from the #SEOpen with a right ankle sprain. Andy Murray advances to the fourth round. #Tennis #ATP

— Sony Ericsson Open (@SEOpen) March 25, 2012

If it is any consolation, Raonic did improve on last year's result by reaching the third round. Milos was upset by Devvarman in the second round in 2011. We were all looking forward to the match with Murray, but now we'll have to wait and see how serious the injury is and how long it will keep him off court.

-multi

Update 1:44 PM Eastern:
From Milos, via twitter a few seconds ago...

Unfortunately I couldn't play today with my hurt ankle, time to rest up and get ready for clay. Thanks for the kind words to my supporters.

— Milos Raonic (@milosraonic) March 25, 2012

--wacb

Excerpts of Milos' comments from the Canadian Press:

"I was just moving back and I rolled over my ankle and ended up spraining it,"

"I don't know too much about it right now, but in the doubles it wasn't getting better," said Raonic. "This morning it was a bit painful on pretty much every movement. Against the calibre of player I'd be up against, to play at 40 per cent didn't really didn't make much sense.

"The doctor in Spain doesn't think it's anything big. It probably just needs a couple days of rest, but active rest. With treatment and so on, it should be okay within a week or so."

"It's frustrating, but you must look at the big picture," said the Canadian with two ATP titles this season. "Everything is going well, obviously it would be more frustrating if things were going poorly.

"Even though if I might have some worries about something, I'm pretty good at coming back pretty quickly."

--source: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/tennis/story/2012/03/25/sp-milos-raonic-ankle-injury-sony-ericsson.html

All this means that we should expect to see Milos in Monte Carlo starting April 14th, the next tournament on the schedule. The draw in Monte Carlo is 64 instead of 128. Since there's no round of 128, only the top 8 seeds get byes and only 16 players get seeded in the draw. Like last year, Milos will not be seeded. The top 8 seeds will include Janko Tipsarevic and John Isner in place of Roger Federer and Mardy Fish, who are skipping the Rolex Masters. Milos made it to the 3rd round last year (Round of 16), ending up going down in straight sets to David Ferrer.

Click here for Monte Carlo Players List

--wacb

Raonic Seeded No.26 in Miami

Milos Raonic will face Arnaud Clement (FRA) in the 2nd round of the Sony Ericsson Open this weekend. The two have yet to meet on the tour and Clement is currently ranked No.153 in the world.

Update: Raonic will play 3rd on Court 2 today, so his match against qualifier Arnaud Clement should start around 3 PM Eastern Time.  Coverage hasn't started at the tournament yet so the only way to watch will be the live score ticker!

Looking at the draw, it is likely that Raonic will have another difficult opponent waiting for him in the third round. At Indian Wells, it was Federer who put Raonic out on his way to winning a record setting 19th ATP Masters 1000 tournament. This week it could be Andy Murray who proves to be an insurmountable obstacle. But neither player has secured their spot in the third round yet.

Frank Dancevic made it through qualifying and faces Jeremy Chardy (FRA) in the first round today. Milos and his doubles partner Kevin Anderson (RSA) are taking on the French doubles team of Nicolas Mahut and Gilles Simon just before Dancevic takes the court. It is a funny coincidence that Canadian players all have French opponents given the recent Davis Cup World Group tie.

It appears that Sportsnet ONE coverage begins on Sunday, March 25 at 11AM EST. That means they won't have Raonic's second round match, and I'm not sure if there will be any streams available until the third round starts.

Here are the complete details for the Sportsnet ONE coverage.

-multi

2nd Round Preview – Raonic about to play his 2nd-round match versus Carlos Berlocq at Indian Wells

Milos will step onto Stadium 2 court in about an hour or so (around 9:45-10 PM Eastern) to play his 2nd-round match (though the Sportsnet coverage will probably be later since it's on tape delay - if they even show the Raonic match).  He will be up following the Kvitova / McHale match which is on Stadium 2 right now at about half-way through the second set.

@Joane_ Sportsnet doesn't have any coverage of Indian Wells today so the best place would be online. Check fromsport.com.

—Tennis Canada (@Tennis_Canada) March 11, 2012

Milos has never faced Berlocq on the tour before, but he's 5 inches taller than Berlocq, 8 years younger, 30 lbs heavier, and has a much better record so far this year with two titles and a 15-2 win/loss record.  Berlocq, who turned pro in 2001, has never won a singles title (though he won in Stuttgart in doubles in 2010) but made his first finals last month in his native South America at Viña del Mar, losing to Juan Mónaco in 3 sets on the clay.

Given that Raonic is an amazing hard court player and Berlocq's strength is mainly clay, I'm pretty confident in Milos to come away with a win here.

In order to watch, you should be able to find the live streaming tennis online somewhere, or PVR the Sportsnet coverage in case it comes on very late.  Roger Federer's match is starting at around the same time (10 PM Eastern) on Stadium 1 court, so the regular coverage that Sportsnet shows will probably be focusing on that the most.  Your best bet is to search for a live stream on the internet as per the Tennis Canada tweet above.

-wacb

Also, check this out, it might make you laugh:

(Hilarious) highlights from exhibition match between @AndyRoddick and @federer_roger from Monday! spr.ly/6016r6Zq

— SAP Sponsorships (@SAPSponsors) March 8, 2012

Raonic Seeded At Indian Wells

Milos Raonic has been seeded No.27 at the BNP Paribas Open. You can view the the draw here.

As a seed, Raonic has a first round bye. He will face either Carlos Berlocq (ARG) or Benoit Paire (FRA) in the second round. Milos is in the same quarter of the draw as David Ferrer (5), Juan Martin Del Potro (9), and Gael Monfils (14). Of course, the obvious red flag in the draw is the possible third round matchup with Roger Federer (3). This is easily one of the biggest third round matches we could see in the tournament, and there is little reason to think someone might step up and spoil the party.

Aleksandra Wozniak has already qualified for the Women's Singles draw and she will face the young American wild card Sloane Stephens in the first round. That match is set to go later today. Both Vasek Pospisil and Frank Dancevic have advanced to the final round of qualifying and will be playing for a spot in the main draw this afternoon.

As far as I can tell, Sportsnet ONE's coverage of the BNP Paribas Open starts at 2PM EST on Saturday, March 10.

UPDATE: Milos Raonic will face Carlos Berlocq in the second round tomorrow. Raonic has teamed up with fellow giant Kevin Anderson (RSA) in the doubles and they are taking on the Bryan brothers later today.

-multi

Memphis Final Live on Sportsnet ONE

Sportsnet ONE will have live coverage of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships final between Milos Raonic and Jurgen Melzer at 4PM EST today. This is the second year in a row that Raonic has made it to the finals in Memphis, losing a thriller to Andy Roddick last year in three close sets.

Melzer eliminated the No.1 and No.3 seeds on his way to reaching the finals. He was able to defeat John Isner in straight sets, managing to best the big serving American in a 2nd set tiebreak. That quarter-final result probably has the biggest implications for setting up today's final. Melzer's return game was especially strong to start that match. Isner was only able to win 55% of the points on his first serve. If Melzer is able to give Raonic the same amount of trouble, we might expect to see a couple of breaks going the Austrian's way.

But Raonic has a different serve compared to Isner. In many ways, it's a better serve. Isner's ace count was quite low in that first set against Melzer. As long as Milos is steady to open the match, he should be able to earn enough free points to keep Melzer at bay. Time will tell, but let's hope Raonic comes out of the gate like gangbusters today!

Of the four matches Melzer has played so far, three of them have gone the distance. Raonic has yet to drop a set in the tournament. That's an impressive stat in and of itself.

This is a great opportunity for Raonic to win his third title of the year. I like his chances, but Melzer will no doubt be a tough opponent. Win or lose, Milos is having a great year so far. The only match he's lost this season was to Lleyton Hewitt at the Australian Open. Raonic also leads the ATP tour in first serve points won (84%) and break points saved (84%). Nobody wants to be on the other side of the net when Raonic is serving. The level of intimidation is only going to grow as Raonic improves in the other aspects of his game.

Good luck in the finals, Milos!

-multi